hda - errors at startup

[ZIYAD A. M. AL-BATLY]

On Mon, 2005-07-25 at 22:48 +0200, René L. Reingard wrote:
> Hi,
> since three days when starting the machine Ubuntu hangs either at
> 
> * Setting up LVM Volume Group
> 
> or
> 
> * Loading modules ....
> hda: timeout waiting for DMA
> hda: no DRQ after issuing MULTWRITE
> 
> what i did the last two weeks regarding Harddrive is that i set it from  
> ext3 filesystem to ext2, because I started tu use the program Wipe.
> 
> do I have to consider buying a new harddrive soon, haha.
> 
> thanks for help.
> René
> 
If your suspecting your HDD is failing (or very near it's life end), you
should install the package "smartmontools", enable S.M.A.R.T. in your
BIOS, and check your system log for any messages.  I have a defected HDD
and "smartmontools" reports in my "/var/log/syslog" the following two
lines:
        Jul 26 00:35:37 localhost smartd[7162]: Device: /dev/hdc, 2 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
        Jul 26 00:35:37 localhost smartd[7162]: Device: /dev/hdc, 2 Offline uncorrectable sectors

You should try, it wont hurt you.
Ziyad.